Honey one day I hope!

[Don K]

I guess this would go under Food as if all goes right, one day we will harvest honey. Misty and I are in the bee business. We have four new hives. 2 each of Italian and Russian bees. It has been a fun adventure so far, and I have been stung about 5 times in the last month. It is not that bad, haven't been popped on the lip yet. : Last week we added a second box to 3 of our hives and I hope they have them full of honey and pollen by winter as this is what they will survive on this winter. Each hive needs about 60 lbs of honey each winter to keep from starving. I will probably have to supplement with sugar syrup. This morning they were busy hauling in yellow pollen to feed the larvae. We will do a inspection this afternoon if the rain holds off. I will try to get some good pics of queens and such. Here are a few for now.




New empty hives waiting on the bees.




Moving Italians from nucs to hives.




Some capped honey from Russian bees. This honey most likely came from Privet Hedge. Good stuff, I won't dig anymore up. :D ;D




A brand new bee chewing out of her cell. She is 21 days old. She will have worked herself to death by the first of July, literally.




Some of our Italian girls on some capped brood.

We have been contemplating bees for 4 years. I wish now we had been doing it that long. Heck, I wish I had been doing this since I was a young fella. This is fun. ;D

Don

[zopi]

I wish I had time...I did score a copy of dadant's encycopedia of bees the other day...two bucks at a thrift store...

[Norm]

Very interesting Don. I read the book beekeeping from a to z many years ago but never took the plunge.

Thanks for sharing your new hobby.

[Tom]

Start now, getting your containers together, whether they be 50 gal. drums, Ball jars, whiskey bottles or plastic Honey Bears.   You're going to have a lot of honey faster than you know. 

[sprucebunny]

Looks like fun ! Thanks for the pictures  8)

[WDH]

I want some!

(Honey, not bees  ).

[Don K]

Danny, when I get some, I will be sure to send you some.

Don

[iffy]

I usta keep bees and really enjoyed it. Found out that I couldn't compete with the corporate farms selling bulk, so I worked on niche markets. Stocked local grocery stores and ran ads in free papers. Always set up a few supers with no wire in the foundation so I could use it for comb honey. Would drop a piece of comb honey in a jar and then fill the jar with honey. Old timers loved it.
Made an observation frame (glass sides) and set up booth at local carnival. Adults veered around it when they saw it. Youngsters made a beeline  :D to it and got their noses right up against the glass. If I had pieces of comb honey left over after cutting it up to fit in jars I would cut them into about 1" squares, put a toothpick in each one, and sell them for $.25 ea. Probably should be twice that now. Old timers would always give their grandkids a quarter to sample stuff from the "old days". If there was a lull in business I would grab a group of kids and give them a quarter apiece to stand in line and give me my quarter back for a sample of comb. When others would see the line they would get in line too.  ;D
When I first started keeping them I dressed in long sleeves, taped the cuffs, taped the pants legs, wore gloves, veil, etc. Got a lot of stings from bees trapped in clothing folds. Gradually got rid of long sleeves, tape, etc, and finally the gloves. Found when you are handling them bare handed you are more careful where you put your hands and you can feel the bees under them and gently work you fingers in between them. With the gloves on I couldn't feel the bees and invariably pinched a few, which really ticks them off.

[sprintfan11]

I just started beekeeping this year. I have two hives. I should be putting a super on one of the hives in the next week. ;D

[Don K]

Hello sprintfan, Glad to hear of a new beekeeper. We have 4 hives and the second deep brood box we put on a few weeks ago to boost numbers before winter has a lot of honey in it. We will not harvest this year as we want them to have plenty of food stores for winter and to come into the spring flow with good numbers and health. That is when we will add supers for our share. ;D

Don

[bugdust]

I got started with one hive of Buckfast bees a few years back and now I'm up to 7. WV had a pretty wet spring and very dry summer, but those little creatures ended up supplying me with 122 pints of beautiful honey. I always leave one super on for winter feed and feed them sugar water in the spring. I recently started splitting hives to save swarming and end up giving extra bees away. It's not only a great hobby but a necessity that SOMEONE is always raising honey bees. Keep up the good work, it's worth the stings.